Health News

Healthy Fatty Acid Levels Return When Weight Normalizes In Girls With Eating Disorders

Date: Jul-19-2012
A study of teenage girls with eating disorders has shown that reduced essential fatty acid levels returned to normal once the girls increased their weight to a healthy level. The research, published in the August issue of Acta Paediatrica, suggests that it is not necessary to give omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid supplements to adolescent girls with eating disorders. "Essential fatty acid status is altered in eating disorders that result in weight loss" explains co-author Dr Ingemar Swenne from Uppsala University Children's Hospital...

La Jolla Institute Identifies Critical Cell In Fighting E. coli Infection

Date: Jul-19-2012
Finding Provides Potential New Therapeutic Target For Bacterial Infections Despite ongoing public health efforts, E. coli outbreaks continue to infiltrate the food supply, annually causing significant sickness and death throughout the world.  But the research community is gaining ground. In a major finding, published today in the scientific journal Nature, researchers from the La Jolla Institute for Allergy & Immunology have discovered a molecule's previously unknown role in fighting off E...

Risk Of Premature Birth Doubled By Marijuana Use

Date: Jul-19-2012
A large international study led by University of Adelaide researchers has found that women who use marijuana can more than double the risk of giving birth to a baby prematurely. Preterm or premature birth - at least three weeks before a baby's due date - can result in serious and life-threatening health problems for the baby, and an increased risk of health problems in later life, such as heart disease and diabetes. A study of more than 3000 pregnant women in Adelaide, Australia and Auckland, New Zealand has detailed the most common risk factors for preterm birth...

Discovery Of New Way To Induce Programmed Cell Death Could Lead To Potential Cancer Therapies

Date: Jul-19-2012
Researchers from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the Weizmann Institute of Science have developed a technique to cause apoptosis, or programmed cell death, that could lead to new approaches to treating cancer. Apoptosis is an essential defense mechanism against the spread of abnormal cells such as cancer. It is a complex process that occurs through networks of proteins that interact with each other. Cancer cells usually avoid this process due to mutations in the genes that encode the relevant proteins. The result is that the cancer cells survive and take over while healthy cells die...

Identification Of New Therapeutic Target For Prostate Cancer

Date: Jul-19-2012
A small, naturally occurring nucleic acid sequence, called a microRNA, known to regulate a number of different cancers, appears to alter the activity of the androgen receptor, which plays a critical role in prostate cancer. Directly targeting microRNA-125b to block androgen receptor activity represents a novel approach for treating castrate-resistant prostate cancer...

Mammography Screening Shows Limited Effect On Breast Cancer Mortality In Sweden

Date: Jul-19-2012
Breast cancer mortality statistics in Sweden are consistent with studies that have reported that screening has limited or no impact on breast cancer mortality among women aged 40-69, according to a study published July 17 in the Journal of The National Cancer Institute. Since 1974, Swedish women aged 40-69 have increasingly been offered mammography screening, with nationwide coverage peaking in 1997. Researchers set out to determine if mortality trends would be reflected accordingly. In order to determine this, Philippe Autier, M.D...

Rapid Response Teams As Good As ICU-Trained Teams

Date: Jul-18-2012
A study conducted by Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center researchers has established that a care system that is focused on detecting and systematically assessing patients with clinical instability can produce similar outcomes as rapid response teams that consist of trained intensive care specialists. The study was published online in Critical Care Medicine. The findings are based on an assessment of 177,347 patients over a 59-month period. In recent years, rapid response teams have become an important part of hospital care...

What Are The Best Ways To Promote Exercise Around The World?

Date: Jul-18-2012
A range of successful and effective interventions from around the world were recognized in the third paper in The Lancet Series that can be used to encourage people to be physically active and improve their exercise opportunities. Gregory Heath, lead author of the study and from the University of Tennessee, said: "Because even moderate physical activity such as walking and cycling can have substantial health benefits, understanding strategies that can increase these behaviors in different regions and cultures has become a public health priority...

Alzheimer's Treatment Halts Symptoms For 3 Years

Date: Jul-18-2012
A group of Alzheimer's patients treated for 3 years with an immunotherapy drug showed no symptom decline over the treatment period. The patients were taking part in a small placebo-controlled phase 2 trial testing Baxter's intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) as an immunotherapy for Alzheimer's. IVIG is a blood product that is mainly used to treat patients with immune deficiencies, autoimmune diseases and acute infections. Each dose, which is given intravenously, contains antibodies extracted from the plasma of over 1,000 blood donors...

How Does Violence In The Media Impact School Bullying?

Date: Jul-18-2012
The case of Kenneth Weishuhn Jr. from South O'Brien High School in Paulina, Iowa raised serious concerns over the effectiveness of state's 5-year old anti-bullying law, following the 14 year-old's suicide in April this year. It is not always possible for school officials to identify the bullies until it is too late...